Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg is a staff reporter with an online publication called the Appeal. When she heard reports on Radio IQ about problems at Red Onion, she wondered what top officials at the Department of Corrections were thinking when inmates burned themselves. She sent a freedom of information act request to find out.
“I asked for emails that were sent to and from the warden that included the word fire and/or burn," she explains.
Were they worried about claims that prison guards had threatened or abused inmates desperate to be transferred out of Red Onion? Did they wonder about the mental health of those men? Weill-Greenburg says they did not.
“They focused on working with the local prosecutor’s office to criminally prosecute folks who had harmed themselves. They also discussed charging the men thousands of dollars for their medical treatment.”
All of those men were sent back to Red Onion, some placed in solitary confinement.
“There was no acknowledgement that they’re being driven to this because they’re desperate. Let’s get in there and figure out what’s happening," Weill-Greenberg concluded. "Instead it was very much focused on ‘They’re trying to manipulate us to get something they want. We’re not going to let them.’”
The Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney says he is reviewing the cases of self-harm and setting fires in prison cells for possible prosecution.
